Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Saintsbury, George Edward Bateman

(Encyclopedia)Saintsbury, George Edward Bateman sāntsˈbərē [key], 1845–1933, English critic and historian. His many works on English and French literature, notable for their breadth of knowledge and spirited ...

Holy Innocents

(Encyclopedia)Holy Innocents, in the New Testament, children of Bethlehem “from two years old and under,” killed by the order of Herod the Great in the attempt to destroy the infant Jesus. The Innocents have be...

Niobe

(Encyclopedia)Niobe nīˈōbē [key], in Greek mythology, queen of Thebes, wife of Amphion and daughter of Tantalus. The mother of six sons and six daughters, she boasted of her fruitfulness, saying that Leto had o...

McGinley, Phyllis

(Encyclopedia)McGinley, Phyllis, 1905–78, American poet, b. Ontario, Oreg. Her light verse treats aspects of modern life with humor and underlying seriousness. Among her best-known collections of verse are A Pock...

Boutet de Monvel, Louis Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Boutet de Monvel, Louis Maurice lwē mōrēsˈ bo͞otāˈ də môNvĕlˈ [key], 1851–1913, French painter and illustrator. His fame rests chiefly on his decorative illustrations for children's books...

Abbott, Grace

(Encyclopedia)Abbott, Grace, 1878–1939, American social worker, b. Grand Island, Nebr. She did notable work as director (1921–34) of the Child Labor Division of the U.S. Children's Bureau. The Child and the Sta...

Matute, Ana María

(Encyclopedia)Matute, Ana María äˈnä märēˈä mäto͞oˈtā [key], 1926–2014, Spanish novelist, b. Barcelona. Much of her fiction, which has been translated into more than 20 languages, reflects her searing...

Emecheta, Buchi

(Encyclopedia)Emecheta, Buchi bo͞oˈchē āməchāˈtə [key], 1944–2017, Nigerian novelist, b. Lagos as Florence Onye Buchi Emecheta. In 1962 she accompanied her husband to England, where she had five children....

Thorndike, Edward Lee

(Encyclopedia)Thorndike, Edward Lee thôrnˈdīk [key], 1874–1949, American educator and psychologist, b. Williamsburg, Mass., grad. Wesleyan Univ., 1895, and Harvard, 1896, Ph.D. Columbia, 1898. Appointed instru...

Pogány, Willy

(Encyclopedia)Pogány, Willy vĭlˈē pōˈgänyə [key], 1882–1955, American artist, b. Hungary, studied in Budapest, Munich, and Paris. Arriving in New York City in 1914 from England, he soon achieved renown as...